Public Fraud Awareness Fades Between Crises Despite AI Threat Escalation, CONCRYT Finds

Payments technology company, CONCRYT has released its annual Payment Fraud Trends: 2024–2025 Update, revealing a troubling pattern: public awareness of payment fraud spikes dramatically around major regulatory announcements and incidents, then rapidly returns to baseline – even as AI-enabled threats continue to intensify. 

The comprehensive analysis – covering Google Trends data, global regulatory activity, and major enforcement operations from the past 12 months – tracked how public attention to payment fraud surged to record levels in August-September 2025 following major UK regulatory reforms, then dropped sharply within weeks. 

While global search interest in payment fraud spiked during the UK’s introduction of the Failure to Prevent Fraud corporate offence in September 2025, that attention proved short-lived. By October, public interest had returned to baseline levels – despite AI-enabled scams and synthetic identity fraud making criminal operations more sophisticated and scalable than ever. 

Azimkhon Askarov, Co CEO & Partner at CONCRYT, commented: “What we’re seeing is a fundamental mismatch between the evolution of the threat and public vigilance. AI has completely transformed the fraud economy. Criminals can now replicate identities, automate impersonation, and execute highly targeted scams at a scale we simply haven’t seen before. Yet public awareness remains reactive – spiking when headlines hit, then fading just as quickly.” 

The data reveals that regulatory developments now drive global fraud awareness as powerfully as criminal incidents. The UK’s APP Reimbursement Rule, amendments to the Payment Services Regulations, new FCA safeguarding requirements, and the Failure to Prevent Fraud offence closely aligned with the year’s most significant search spikes – with policy announcements generating attention comparable to high-profile breaches and scams.

CONCRYT’s regional analysis also identified significant geographic disparities in fraud awareness, with implications for businesses operating across multiple markets. 

The UK, US, South Africa, Singapore, and Ireland showed the highest sustained engagement, driven by strong regulatory frameworks, active media coverage, and high digital payment adoption. Meanwhile, emerging economies including India, Kenya, and the Philippines showed sharp increases in fraud-related searches as digital payment systems rapidly expanded – creating fresh vulnerabilities in regions where consumer education hasn’t kept pace with digital adoption.

Azimkhon added: “The geographic patterns are revealing. High awareness correlates strongly with regulatory visibility and media coverage, not necessarily with actual fraud volumes. This creates blind spots – markets where consumers may be highly exposed but largely unaware.” 

CONCRYT identified AI-enabled scams and synthetic identity fraud as the defining threats shaping 2025-2026. These technologies allow criminals to create highly convincing impersonations, automate attacks at industrial scale, and bypass traditional detection methods with unprecedented success rates. 

Analysis of search co-movements between “payment fraud,” “AI scams,” and “deepfake fraud” suggests growing public concern about AI’s role in enabling more realistic identity manipulation and social engineering attacks. 

Major international operations demonstrated significant progress in disrupting fraud networks. INTERPOL’s HAECHI VI operation (April-August 2025) disrupted 68,000 bank accounts across 40 countries and recovered $439 million. Operation First Light resulted in 3,950 arrests and seized $257 million in assets. Yet the report notes that fraudsters continue to exploit alternative payment methods, mobile channels, and lightly regulated online platforms – adapting faster than enforcement can scale. 

“Our findings show that while enforcement is intensifying and regulation is strengthening, public vigilance remains episodic,” said Azimkhon Askarov. “The next 12 months will be defined by AI-assisted social engineering, identity manipulation, and increasingly sophisticated exploitation of digital payment systems. Sustained consumer education – not just reactive attention spikes – is essential to closing the awareness gap.”